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When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac
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Updated on: 04 Oct 2017, 01:59

1

12

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

95% (hard)

Question Stats:

49%(02:14) correct 51%(02:19) wrong based on 580 sessions

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When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term “imitation butter” to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water. Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health. Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders.

(B) The manufacturers who wish to call their product “lite butter” plan to change the composition of the product so that it contains more water than it now does.

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term “imitation.”

(D) Cholesterol is only one of many factors that contribute to the types of health problems with which the consumption of excessive amounts of cholesterol is often associated.

(E) Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.

Re: When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac
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16 Mar 2017, 01:03

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vikasp99 wrote:

When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term “imitation butter” to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water. Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health. Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders.

(B) The manufacturers who wish to call their product “lite butter” plan to change the composition of the product so that it contains more water than it now does.

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term “imitation.”

(D) Cholesterol is only one of many factors that contribute to the types of health problems with which the consumption of excessive amounts of cholesterol is often associated.

(E) Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.

The argument says "public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content but the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated"

option E weakens the argument by saying that people who deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.

Re: When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac
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17 Apr 2017, 11:34

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gmatexam439 wrote:

According to me answer is "A". Can anyone explain why is it wrong? I understand OA is also correct but why not A?

As per my understanding of the question, the conclusion is that the manufacturers should be allowed to use the name "lite" instead of imitation and the argument that the author uses is that imitation butter, even though it has less fat and is healthier to consume, is not being purchased by the public because of the connotations of falsity associated with the term "imitation".

The question is which option undermines the argument mostE renders the health argument used by the manufacturers of imitation butter invalid. it states that the public chooses a healthier product than the imitation butter. A on the other hand does not touch this at all. It just states what the reason for the manufacturers to want to change the name is. Which is irrelevant to this particular question.

Re: When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac
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17 Apr 2017, 11:47

niteshwaghray wrote:

gmatexam439 wrote:

According to me answer is "A". Can anyone explain why is it wrong? I understand OA is also correct but why not A?

As per my understanding of the question, the conclusion is that the manufacturers should be allowed to use the name "lite" instead of imitation and the argument that the author uses is that imitation butter, even though it has less fat and is healthier to consume, is not being purchased by the public because of the connotations of falsity associated with the term "imitation".

The question is which option undermines the argument mostE renders the health argument used by the manufacturers of imitation butter invalid. it states that the public chooses a healthier product than the imitation butter. A on the other hand does not touch this at all. It just states what the reason for the manufacturers to want to change the name is. Which is irrelevant to this particular question.

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16 Oct 2018, 11:29

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The conclusion states that manufactures should be allowed to rename "Imitation butter" to "Lite butter". Any option that gives us a reason that renaming the product would result in a misconception that the product is healthier is or answer choice.

vikasp99 wrote:

When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term “imitation butter” to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water. Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health. Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders. The intentions of the manufacturers are irrelevant. It is the implication that matters.

(B) The manufacturers who wish to call their product “lite butter” plan to change the composition of the product so that it contains more water than it now does. If the product contains more water, it would probably be healthier. There is no reason to stop the renaming then.

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term “imitation.” This option only speaks about "some" individuals. Other individuals may be deterred by the negative connotations. Hence renaming would be good way to attaract those individuals.

(D) Cholesterol is only one of many factors that contribute to the types of health problems with which the consumption of excessive amounts of cholesterol is often associated. We are not concerned if cholesterol is the only factor or one of many factors. The fact that cholesterol is harmful is what matters.

(E) Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.Most people have already found other products. So renaming the product might not attract customers who are already aware of the butterfat content.

Re: When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac
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25 Oct 2018, 08:09

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manjot123 wrote:

GMATNinja sir please explain why e and not a?

It looks like 0akshay0 and niteshwaghray have identified why (E) is the best choice and why (A) doesn't do anything to weaken the argument. Nice work on this one!

I'll add a reminder that it's very important to clarify the conclusion that you're trying to weaken before you begin eliminating answer choices.

In this case, the author concludes that manufacturers should be allowed to label reduced-butterfat butter with the name "lite butter." The author implies that if the label change is allowed, then the public will stop avoiding reduced-butterfat butter. And once they start buying reduced-butterfat butter, they will be eating fewer foods with higher butterfat content.

Quote:

(E) Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.

However, (E) introduces evidence that most people who are avoiding reduced-butterfat butter are in fact eating alternative foods with lower butterfat content. Switching over to "lite butter" won't lead to a reduction in the consumption of higher butterfat foods. So if (E) is true, then the whole point of this conclusion turns out to be moot.

Quote:

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders.

Choice (A), on the other hand, runs away from the point of this conclusion. We just spent precious moments of our lives reading about how butterfat content impacts the health of people who consume it. The conclusion focuses on the effect of a label change on consumer decisions about what butter to buy. Why, then, would we care about the motivations of butter manufacturers?

Well, we don't. That's why we eliminate (A).

aditliverpoolfc wrote:

What is wrong with answer choice C?

Quote:

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term "imitation."

This choice tells us that some people who need to eat less cholesterol look at "imitation" butter and buy it anyway. So these people are already ending up where the author would like everyone to end up: eating reduced-butterfat butter.

This sounds like it weakens the argument. But let's take one more look at that argument:

Quote:

Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

OK, so:

The argument tells us up front that the term "imitation" deters many people from buying "imitation" butter.

Choice (C) tells us that the term "imitation" fails to deter some people from buying "imitation" butter.

Wait, what? Is choice (C) really telling us anything new? When we read closely, we see that (C) is really just re-phrasing part of the argument that we already know. And the conclusion is pointed at the many people who have been deterred, not some people who haven't been deterred.

If (C) is true, the argument isn't really affected at all. That's why it's a much poorer choice than (E).

On a more personal note, I hope all of this clarification didn't reduce your appetite for delicious, delicious butter. Especially clarified butter. Mmmmmmm, clarified butter...
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